A little Late but.. Disney Wold Part 1

Ok I realize that we went to Disney World a month ago, but due to crazy school and papers, I have only gotten to my blog now. So lets hope I can remember everything! So there will be a few posts for our trip to Florida as it was 2 weeks long! I know I know 2 weeks is a crazy amount of time, but we only did it that long because we were able to stay with some friends and my cousin the second week to attend her wedding, which was beautiful! But i'll get to that a little bit later. So....

Day 1-2

To get to Florida we needed to take 2 flights, one to phoenix which was about an hour and a half. and one to Florida, which was about 4 and a half hours long..the one I was worried about. We get to the airport on time, which was a pretty big accomplishment for me to be on time. I later found out that I was on time because Bobby told me that our flight was leaving an hour earlier than it really was..he knows me too well. The flight to Arizona really wasn't too bad, Kate was happy with just buckling the seat belts over and over, so we were very lucky we had an extra seat in our row. Not to mention she was loving saying hi to Nate and Chelsea sitting behind us, so 1 flight down. I did come prepared for the big 4 1/2 hour flight to come with tons of toys, some wrapped that she would want to play with as well as snacks that she would like. Before the trip I did a ton of research from articles, blogs you name it with tips for keeping a toddler happy on a longer flight. So before the trip I went to the dollar store grabbed a ton of toys, wrapped some up for her, packed treats and prayed it would be good enough. Kate did awesome on the long flight! She actually slept for an hour of it and the other three just played with some of the toys I got her and entertained the rest of the people on the flight by saying "Hi guys!" to everyone.
            We didn't get to our hotel until about 12:30 at night so we were just exhausted and ready to crash little did I know it would be the longest night ever! We got adjoining rooms with Nate and Chelsea, which was a life saver because for some reason we only had a handicapped bathroom in our room so no bathtub, so we had to use theirs for Kate's baths at night. We got ready for bed and put Kate down in the pack n play for bed as soon as we could because we had an earlier breakfast with the characters in the morning. Well...Kate woke up about 1/2 hour later just crying uncontrollably and wouldn't sleep in her bed for a second. She only wanted to sleep on my chest but after awhile would get uncomfortable and start crying again. Basically Kate cried until about 4 am when she finally crashed from exhaustion..it was a long night.

      The next morning we dragged ourselves out of bed and got ready for the breakfast with the characters. We got to wear these awesome shirts that Chelsea and I had made to wear for Disney World and they turned out so good! Kate looked so stinkin cute in her little Mickey shirt we made for her.  I was really excited to see how Kate would like seeing the characters in real life and hoped she wouldn't be too scared. Sadly Kate did not love the characters in real life, well she did, but only if they were far enough away for her to just blow kisses and wave at them, any closer and she was scared. It was still a ton of fun though and the food was delicious! I figured we'd warm her up to the characters throughout the week. After breakfast we went to magic kingdom and played around there for the rest of the day. I was able to go on my first roller coaster ride in about 4 years and oh have I missed it! I went on space mountain first and just laughed the whole time because of how much fun it was to be on a roller coaster again! So our basic system with Kate worked as this: we would go get a parent pass that was basically a fast pass that we could use anytime with 3 additional people. One of use would walk around while the other rode and then switched, or Nate and Chels would watch Kate for us and Bobby and I would go on the rides together for a while (thanks again guys!). Kate seemed to really be loving the atmosphere of Disney World, everywhere we went she would shout "Mouse!" or "Duck!" and just smile at all the Mickey's everywhere and wave. I loved watching her enjoy these moments and even though she was young I think we helped create a little foundation for her that this really is just a happy place!

6 years!

Well I can't even believe it, but I have been married for 6 years! And I can honestly say that I am more in love with Bobby than the day I married him, it's funny how being together for longer does that to you. It begins to change where the little things that bugged you that seemed so significant at the time, become so small as you realize the bigger picture in marriage and life. The past 6  years have been a whirlwind, with some difficult moments, some absolutely beautiful moments and some down right hilarious moments, all of which I will always cherish. I completely love my life, every aspect of it, because Bobby is in it with me. So here is to 6 years and maybe a few more ;)

Ok now to the activities for the big day! Well our anniversary fell on a weekday which is really hard for us due to Bobby's rotations and my school. So we decided to just do a little thing on Thursday and celebrate for real on Saturday. Thursday came, and it was really any normal day during the day, I was just excited to see Bobby when he got home obviously. So I am at home with Kate waiting for Bobby to get home from the hospital when someone knocks on the door. Thinking it was our neighbor I casually open the door to find these!  
                                                   












In our entire marriage I have never gotten flowers like this! It actually took me back for a second and Kate comes running out yelling "flowers, flowers!" while standing on her tippy toes and smelling them. Yes they were taller than Kate! Bobby walked up a few minutes later with a huge smile on his face, I just loved them and he knew it.

After that wonderful surprise we exchanged our gifts which were great! We had a little bit smaller budget this year in gifts to save up for our trip to Florida and Disney World (so excited!) so the gifts were perfect. After our gift exchange, we decided that since we were going to be spending money on Saturday it would be best to just play it low key and eat in. I didn't mind at all, it saved a little money and all that I needed to be happy was right in the room with me, Bobby and Kate. After that we went to watch Bobby play in his basketball game, both Kate and I love to watch him play so that was a lot of fun. So it was a really good and low key night, leaving me even more excited for the surprise awaiting me on Saturday.

Saturday came and we went to a movie in the morning called Cowboys and Aliens, it had a lot of good actors in it and a great director so we were excited. Plus we love a good action movie. Well we weren't disappointed! It was a great movie! A lot of great action scenes and I thought Daniel Craig was a great cowboy in it and of course I always love a movie with Harrison Ford. So a perfect start to our anniversary day! After that we dropped Kate off at our AWESOME friends Nate and Chelsea's house (thanks again guys!) to watch her for a few hours while we went to dinner at a surprise restaurant. Bobby took me to The Melting Pot, I have always wanted to go there! It was so fun to make a meal with fondue! I was really surprised how long it took though, we got there at 6:45 and didn't get out until after 9! Crazy I know! But it was such a relaxing dinner where we could just talk and enjoy the company, it feels like it has been so long since we had such a relaxing date like that, as they are usually pretty fast, so it was wonderful to just enjoy every minute with my hubby. Plus the food was really good, but the best part was easily the dessert! Oh my goodness I would go back just to eat their desserts! I'm talking cheese cake bites, rice crispy treats, brownies, marsh mellows, strawberries, bananas etc. with a cookies and cream chocolate fondue with Oreo chunks. It was Absolutely delicious! After dinner we went to pick Kate up, who was very hesitant to go as she was having so much fun with Nate and Chelsea! We walk her to find her showing off her dance moves to the music in the movie Rio completely oblivious that her parents walked in. So after much coaxing, we finally got her out by 10.  So there is our 6th anniversary, it was so wonderful, every minute of it! Like I said, it's amazing how much love can grow... Happy Anniversary sweetie, Love you.

Praxis 2

      Well as many of my friends and family have noticed, I have been a bit MIA for pretty much this entire summer, which has been so hard for me because summer is one of my favorite times of the year. What have I been doing? Well let's see, I've been working on the seemingly endless piles of homework and studying for the major state exam Praxis 2..blah. Of course I did take the 4 days off to go to Vegas (which was so worth it!) but other than that it's been work, work, work. So now that i'm slowing down a little but I get to tell about my little adventure in the studying world and the eventual happy ending. Sorry, be prepared for a longer post and no pictures! But really, who would want to see pictures of me studying?
 
       Like I said I have been doing homework pretty much non-stop, but also had to study for this huge state certification exam that I've been told by almost everyone I know for years that hardly anyone passes the first time. My counselors were even telling me to probably sign up for it twice just because it was likely that it would take at least that many times to pass it. The Praxis 2 is an exam that covers every topic such as social studies, economics, math, science, reading and language arts as well as pedagogy (teaching techniques). It is incredible how much information you need to have memorized, I practically re-wrote a 300 page book while studying.

         During the time I've been going to school full time I have managed to balance full-time school, Bobby's school, Kate and my other projects just fine..but once it hit July and my test was on the 27th, it hit me that I could no longer try and fit everything in anymore and that I honestly needed help. So as much as it killed me, I had to have my mom and sister help watch Kate during the day for a few hours and have Bobby watch her at night so that I could fit in studying this much dreaded exam. The reason I say it killed me is because I hated not being with Kate all of the time, I absolutely love to have her with me where ever I go. So to see her for only an hour a day some days was really hard for me, and made life and school seem so much more stressful. Plus I was noticing the affect of the lack "mommy/daughter" time with Kate too, every moment I did have with her she would want nothing but to be held by me and anytime I tried to put her down or give her to someone else she would panic and hold onto my neck for dear life. It made it so difficult to leave her when I felt like she thought I was abandoning her. But I have to say I was so so grateful for the fact that I had such wonderful help from my mom and sister during the day while Bobby was at work so I could get more studying done. I honestly don't know what I would have done without Bobby, my mom and my sis helping me out as much as they did, as I still had several papers to write on top of studying, so they were truly life savers!

              The day before the test I took another practice test and did pretty good, but still got stumped on a few questions, so that was obviously unsettling. But by this point I was so exhausted that I just reviewed everything and thankfully Bobby was there to calm me down and give me a blessing that night. I just have to say how grateful I was for Bobby during this whole thing, He was right there to help me with Kate and make dinner when I was too busy studying and honestly he was even just there to let me vent my frustrations while cheering me up or calming my nerves. I just love him :) So yes he helped me stay calm the night before and we went to bed so that I could dream of the test all night, it was great.

        The day of the test I dropped Kate off at my moms and drove to the test center and took the test which was only 2 hours long thank goodness. During the test, I was incredibly nervous of course but I could tell that my prayers were being answered as I was able to remain calm and my mind was able to miraculously recall and organize the massive amount of information I had studied. Although there were a few that I was nervous about, I still finished the test with 15 minutes to spare which gave me enough time to check over the answers and fix anything. I honestly was just so scared to be finished because I knew that my scores were coming soon. That was the good thing about the test was that I didn't have to wait to find out my score as it was multiple choice so I could know immediately if I passed or not.

    After I finished the test I clicked the submit button and could literally feel my heart pounding hard against my chest as I waited for the results. All I needed was a 150 to pass the exam and then I could be done with this test forever. If I didn't pass I would need to spend another $130 and study while trying to write 22 papers in a month, which was something I didn't even want to think about. It honestly felt like forever to get my results but when I did, I had to stare at the screen for a minute for it to sink in. The results? 183!!!! Woohoo!!! I passed!!! Not only did I pass, I actually received the Recognition of Excellence, meaning that of all of the people who have taken the Praxis 2 I scored in the top 15%. It was the most amazing feeling of accomplishment as I stared at those scores knowing that I had done it and I passed the exam that not many pass on the first try. It was an even sweeter feeling knowing that I would finally get to spend time my sweetie and baby girl again because goodness I've missed them!

Viva Las Vegas!

One place that Bobby and I love to visit is funny enough Las Vegas, and I say funny enough because we don't drink, we don't gamble and we don't exactly party all night, especially now because of our little Kate. Yet we love Vegas because of all of the fun lights and different shows and just the feeling of being on vacation  even though we're only about 5 hours away from home. We also love to visit Bobby's uncle Mike and his family, we have a lot of fun with them.  So we packed up the car and off to Vegas we went!  On the road we stopped at a place called Cove Fort, where the early Hinckleys lived and it was really cool to see the history there, although Kate wasn't too interested, she was much more interested in making piles of dirt.

We decided to stay for about 4 days, which is just enough time to get everything in  and get home for the holiday weekend to relax before Bobby started his rotations for pharmacy. We were planning to stay with Bobby's uncle so we talked to him 3 weeks before and he said all was good to go.

 Kate only seems to smile for the camera when she has sunglasses on

Well after a 6 hour drive we got to Vegas around 9 at night only to find out that Bobby's uncle Mike forgot to mention that we were coming to his wife...This wasn't a good thing in this case because Nikki (Mike's wife) is so sweet and is very much a type A personality so no warning from her hubby really stressed her out. She was so overly worried about the house being messy because she hadn't cleaned anything at all for the past month I guess and was really worried that Kate would choke on stuff all over the house that she kind of hinted at the possibility of getting a hotel for the night...Mind you it took about 2 hours for her to get to this conclusion until we finally just did it because we were so tired and found a little $25 hotel for the night. It was OK, a little old, but clean enough for a night. Honestly it was kind of an adventure! We all shared the room and of course Kate LOVED that so hence the notion of sleep was not an option until about 1:30 in the morning, while trying to soothe Kate in our bed I got tired of her hitting me screaming as loud as she could for fun "mamma!!" and then hitting Bobby saying "Dad!" as if she couldn't believe that we were actually there! It was funny for a while but then exhaustion hit and I put her in her pack n play so she could fuss for a second and then pass out.

The first hotel we stayed in

                                                     
That morning I decided to take Kate to the pool so we got all ready and headed down, it was so hot outside already at only 9 am so I was excited to jump in. So after getting down there getting both of us ready to get in I took a careful step in the water and lost my breath at the utter coldness of the pool. Still I thought "well we'll get used to it" so I gently put Kate in her floater thingy and slowly waded deeper into the water. Oh my goodness...there was No getting use to that water!! So we lasted about 5 minutes until I decided we were in long enough and got out. I can't believe it, but it was a relief to feel that Nevada heat! So after the pool experience we got showered and dress and went off to the outlet malls because it was still too hot for the strip. The malls were fun! We even went on a carousel for Kate, which she wanted more and more of. Horses are kind of her thing right now, so she practically jumped out of my arms screaming as loud as she could "Neigh!!" over and over on the ride, it was fun to watch.

Bobby recorded and Kate asked to see this video over and over the rest of the day by pointing to the camera and saying "neigh?"

Bobby and I decided that we wanted to stay in a hotel the rest of the trip because it really made us feel like we were on a vacation, and we didn't want to stress Nikki out (although she later said she wished we'd stayed there the rest of the trip) so we got hooked up with an awesome price in a Marriot Residence Inn (thanks Jill!!) which if you have ever tried with a kid is a life saver! I'm talking Two rooms here! So we could put Kate down for bed and still enjoy a movie or something in the other room, yay! That night we walked the strip, and Kate loved the lights, and of course the music. We would let her walk at times and she would have to stop every few steps just to get jiggy with it and dance to every song. I swear we could have put a hat in front of her and made good money with how many people were stopping and watching her just enjoy the music. ha ha. We probably weren't the best parents on this trip though because we walked the strip until about midnight every night, and Kate honestly never showed any sign of being done, I think she loved it just as much as we did! We took her to see all of the fun free shows like the water at the Bellagio (our favorite), the Volcano at the Mirage and the pirate/siren show at Treasure Island (least favorite) and then the huge fish tank (she loves fishes) and she was as happy as a clam.

Kate Dancing all down the strip!

The next day we went swimming and then Bobby and Kate took a nap, and since I swore off homework for the trip for my own mental health, I pulled out my beloved Ipod and watched the movie, "How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days" (love that movie!) It was honestly so relaxing, I loved being lazy for a change.

Kate made this funny face when she tasted the chlorine, can't really tell if she liked it

After that we got ready and went to the Excalibur Knights of the Round Table show with Uncle Mike, Nikki and their Adorable 6 year old son Evan, we chose this show because it has horses and obviously that would interest our little Kate! Well it definitely did! The second those horses came out Kate went Crazy with "Neigh neigh!" all night, so it was well worth it, we didn't have to get up once to walk around and it was over an hour long. The food was good, although I don't particularly love eating everything with my hands, especially with peeling meat off the bones of the chicken, but hey it was part of the atmosphere so it was fun.

                   King Arthur show

                                     
               Then more of the strip until late again to finish off the night.

                            Kate was such a trooper!

The next day was sadly the day to go home, I really didn't want to because I knew that it would be back to life, which meant back to studying and homework but c'est la vie! So we met Mike, Nikki and Evan one last

time for lunch at this delicious burger place, Creation I believe? Wow, I have never had a burger that good, I would go back to Vegas just for that place. And said goodbye then headed home. Evan was real sad to see Kate leave and Kate gave him so many loves, those two were friends from the beginning, and Bobby and I get along so well with Mike and Nikki that it was sad to say goodbye. But it was such a great little getaway, and very much needed! The thing about Vegas, is that yes it definitely is the city of sin with all of the gambling etc. for those who party, but for those of us who don't do that, we get to see the different aspect of Vegas like the Awesome shows, the cool lights and decorations and surprisingly there are a lot of art displays there too. One in particular I loved had all blown glass, it was truly amazing. So yes, the good things may be hard to find, but definitely worth it if you take the time to look. 

One funny story happened in the art studio with this amazing art, I was walking around and the worker there asked if I was interested in buying any of it, I mentioned that we were both students so it obviously wasn't in the budget. He asked what we were going into, I said I was going to school to be a teacher and he gives me a sympathetic nod and then I mentioned that Bobby was going to school to be a Pharmacist and the guy jumped up and said "Oh! Well you can afford these! Give me a call!" as he practically throws me a business card. It was just funny to see his demeanor change from observing us as lowly students (and me as a lowly teacher) to actual potential clients, as in people not wasting his time. That has never happened before, why can't people jump up when I say i'm going to be a teacher? What, you mean $30,000 a year won't make me a millionaire?! ;) 

Moustache May

Bobby decided to hide something from me for most of the month, it was quite convenient that I was doing homework 24/7 that he was able to make it as long as he did without me noticing. It started with him growing an entire face of scruff, which I Absolutely love, i've never really been a clean shaven type of girl so the scruff all month long was wonderful ;) . But while he was distracting me with the scruff he was also growing a loooong mustache to celebrate Moustache May, yes it is an actual holiday..I googled it. I didn't notice this little fuzzy creature growing above his lip until about the end of the month when I would go to kiss him and get hit with long prickly hairs before I even got to his lips. Bobby was so proud that he got it past me for so long, and even more happy that I didn't want to attack him with kisses like I usually do. It wasn't too bad when he had the scruff during the month, he just had the mountain man look going for a little bit, but then he shaved off the scruff to reveal....

                                                                

                     The Moustache.

I walked in the door and heard laughing coming from the bathroom to see Bobby walking out to proudly show his manly mustache. Of course in every photo he had to look serious so as to show off the "manliness" of the mustache. 

The good thing is that Bobby had company in his little endeavor..

Bobby's little brother Russel (who had to put mascera in his mustache so you could actually see it)

Our good friend Nate (who obviously didn't need any mascera ha ha) and Bobby!

So there was Bobby's little adventure for May, he'd always wanted to see what he looked like with a mustache and now he knows. He made it two days with the mustache only look until he shaved it all off, because he said it was the funniest thing he'd ever seen and he actually missed my kisses...I knew he wouldn't last long  ;)

5K

My goodness it has been a while since I last updated my blog, so I thought since I had a few minutes that is exactly what I would do. Well due to the vast amount of studying and homework, my life has been rather boring as i'm usually home most of the day just trying to keep up with school and of course Kate who is all over the place now! I also have to fit in my huge stress reliever of a good run on the treadmill in my beloved gym in our complex. I love that gym for several reasons, the equipment is great and most of all there is hardly ever anyone in there, so it's like I have my own private gym. Sweet! It's funny how that little break can really make a difference in my day. So as i've been crazy with my life with trying to juggle school, home life, Kate, Bobby etc. I also decided that it would be fun to add in another thing in my crazy life and do a race because i've worked so hard with running and wanted to see how well I could do it. So I registered for the big "Fight Against Breast Cancer" 5K with my good friend Emily, who is also a runner so we could go together. I wanted to do the race for breast cancer because I'm also realizing that due to my life always being so crazy, I don't get involved nearly as much as I want to in things that matter to me. So I figured that this little 5k would be a good start. The story behind this is that an old coworker of mine had breast cancer and passed away from it, she left behind 5 children ranging from teens to 8 (I believe), I remember this woman, she was so nice and always fun to talk to. I may not have known her too well, but I do know she was a great mom, and how hard it is on her younger kids to have lost her. So I joined "Team Ramona" and ran for the cure of breast cancer. I admit I was a little nervous if I could do it as well as I was hoping, mainly because I usually only run on the treadmill which is very different from the pavement. And since I registered for the race a WEEK before (typically not the smart thing to do) I figured I better try it out on the road. I figured that since I could pretty easily run 4 miles on the treadmill I can handle 3 miles on the road. So my first try on the road wasn't too bad I ran the 3 miles but it was a little tougher than the treadmill and I missed the privacy of my gym as people kept looking at me as I ran past them, but I did it! Ok so the big day came, I got up early, had eggs and took trax downtown with my friend to meet our group for Ramona. I have to say, seeing everyone there and the fact that we were all there for a cause was exhilerating! I absolutely loved feeling like that! I felt like I was finally getting out of my bubble and helping out a major cause, even if it was just a small contribution. What made it even better was that the 3 miles was so much easier than I thought it would be! I didn't even really sweat and don't remember ever really being out of breath, heck when it was done I was ready to keep going! It was awesome to have a running buddy to keep us both going and someone to chat to and just have fun with. So I was so happy with myself that I have set another goal to maybe try out a 10k which is about 6 miles and then work my way up to a marathon. Ok and now for one of the best parts, all of the FREE stuff when you're done! Once we crossed the finish line there were people waiting for us with oranges and water bottles, then off to the dozens of vendors just waiting to give me their stuff. A free loaf of honey wheat bread from Great Harvest here, a new bag and a foam hat there, some chapstick and even a fat boy ice cream. Oh yeah, it was sweet. But there ya have it, I think I am offically getting addicted to marathon running as well as taking a moment to get more involved in the world around me, something I plan to do much more of!

My Dad

I'd like to do a different kind of post today.. a post about my dad. The reason for this is that today now marks 5 years since he passed away. I can't exactly express what I'm feeling because how do you really describe what it's like to lose your father? Especially at the young age of 20, which was how old I was at the time. It's funny that now, especially because I have Kate in my life, I understand so much better now how he felt as I grew, the worries, the talks, proud moments etc. I know that I was truly blessed with two incredible parents, and I only hope to be that good for Kate. These past 5 years have been a rollercoaster, and some how my dad still manages to get me through it with lessons that he taught me long ago. Some of which I'll share. On a day like today, I don't like to remember the sad times but instead I would like to remind myself of a few of the so many things he taught me, because its through lessons like these that help me feel closer to my dad, because goodness I miss him more than words can ever express.  

My Dad: Dwight Brown

• Taught me that nothing in life, that's good, comes easy but it is always worth it
• Showed me what it meant to truly endure to the end and have never ending faith..you must never ever give up
• Reminded me to keep life light and enjoy the moments, it's not always about the huge moments, but also the small ones that bring a smile to your face
• Gave me an example the strive to be everyday of my life...to be more compassionate of others because we all have our own story, to be firm in what you believe in, to find the humor in life and share it with others and finally to love as much as you possibly can, because you never know when it's your time
• He Never broke a promise to me...not once

                                              
                                                    Love you, dad.

Walkin Machine!

My brave little Kate decided to take those scary steps into the unknown all by herself! I can't believe I have a little walker now! Kate has been thinking about it for a while but has been so attached to her walker or holding our hand and walking that whenever we would let go she would just sit down. I knew that just like everything else about my girl she had to think very hard about this walking thing and analyze every aspect. I'm afraid she definitely got that one from me. Kate took her first steps on Saturday night at my moms house, I was just sitting on the couch and saw in my peripheral vision Kate just walking across the room like it was nothing! I'll never forget the look on her face, it was filled with so much pride in her beaming smile but also so much apprehension and surprise at what was happening. So after that moment, Kate was a walking machine. Everywhere we go she says "down" to get down to walk, sometimes with a little help with her walker still but mostly just walking all by herself. I have to say the little toddler walk is one of the cutest things to watch. I love watching her take every little careful step, and even her little tumbles are cute. I love it! However, the walking has also made me realize yet again how incredibly fast Kate is growing up and I still just have such a hard time accepting that she won't be a baby anymore sometimes. But honestly I'm enjoying every second of this time with Kate. Everyday I have at least one moment where she does something that makes me laugh, I swear they get funnier as they grow.

Right before she walked by herself, Kate got pretty fast on that little walker!

A Little Bit Like Old Times

In the old days when it was just Bobby and I, we went to movies any chance we could get. It would not be unusual for us to go to at least 2 movies a week if not more sometimes. What can I say? We love going to movies! When Kate was born it was a little hard at first for us to grasp the concept of not being able to go to movies that often. Which led us through phases of desperation in a way to obtain that old life of non-stop movies; and when I say desperation I mean attempting to breastfeed Kate in the middle of a movie to keep her asleep kind of desperation. And sadly unlike her parents, my little Kate is not much of a movie goer, in fact she doesn't even like to watch t.v., so needless to say the theatre attempts with Kate did not work in the least.  But we have adapted through out the year of my daughters life and Bobby has perfected a skill of somehow getting the new release movies from the library first so we can at least keep up to date with what's coming out, so everything has been good. But then something snapped in us this week, and I don't know how but we somehow managed to see 3 movies within 5 days! I don't know what came over me, but all of the sudden I was ok to let go of my over protective mom side for a change and let people babysit Kate more than the usual just once a month! So here is my movie review of the latest movies:

The first movie was "Adjustment Bureau" with Matt Damon, excellent movie in my opinion. It was a thriller about Matt Damon trying to beat fate to be with the woman he loved.
                                                     

The next movie was a sneak preview, so in other words..FREE! Love those! It was on Monday night at the Gateway called "The Lincoln Lawyer" another great movie starring Matthew McConoughey as a lawyer who gets in a little too deep with one of his clients that is supposedly innocent. It is based on a Michael Connelly novel.
                                          

The final movie of the week was another sneak preview (Free!) called "Limitless", which was by far my favorite of all of the movies (although they all were excellent). Have you ever wondered what it would be like if you actually used more than just 10% of your brain? Well that's exactly what "Limitless" is about. It starred Bradly Cooper who takes a pill that actually opened up the remaining 90% of his brain causing a huge ripple effect that is both good and bad. It is a thriller/action movie, and one that I would definitely see again.
                                                    
So there you have it, all of the wonderful movies that I have enjoyed this past week! Like I said, I don't know what came over Bobby and I but we needed to go to some movies, and now I can't decide if I got is out of my system or if i'm going to have to start asking the relatives to watch my little girl once a week so Bobby and I can go to a movie!

Ice Castles

Last friday we drove down to Midway to visit my Sister in law Jolynn, her hubby Dave and my little nephew Lennox while they stayed there for a couple of days for a conference that Dave had for work. I love going to Midway, it's the type of place that even though you're still "home" technically, you feel like you're on vacation. So that's what this was for Jo and Dave, they were staying there one more night and just enjoying the time together on their little get-away. Another great thing about Midway right now is the AMAZING attraction of the Ice Castles. This was a huge reason for us driving down. I have heard of these castles and always been curious but have never gone down to see them. Wow, they are truly incredible! The castles are made purley of ice, nothing structural is holding them up. At least as far as I know. They were built by adding layer upon layer of ice over time to create these huge castles that you can walk through! What makes them even more beautiful is that they put lights in them to make them have a bluish glow. And you know one of the best parts of this little attraction? It was only 5 DOLLARS per adult to get in! Wow, how often do you find activities that cheap anymore? So this was definitely worth the drive down to Midway! I did feel a little bad about not getting Kate into bed until about 10:30pm. But she seemed to really enjoy looking at the castles, or maybe just all of the people....Either way she was happy! It was a just fun night free from stresses and full of beautiful sights!

All of us! Dave (with Lj), Jo, me (with Kate) & Bobby!

 

Jo & I, taken just before we both almost slipped on the ice that was everywhere

In one of the Ice Castles

Poop in the Tub

      Yes it's true, this last week there was poop in my tub. From who? My lovely little girl, Kate. I was in the middle of giving her a bath and while she was just playing, I was talking to Bobby who was in the bathroom with me. Then I happened to look over just in time to see Kate standing up and bracing herself against the side of the tub with a very concentrated look on her face. Only to hear the little and stomch dropping "plop" noise as something fell into the water. So my reflexes kicked in just a tad too late and I grabbed her and picked her up, which she didn't like at all, and ran her to the changing table to clean her up. Bobby had the fun job of cleaning the tub. I got her all cleaned up and about 10 minutes later, which I figured was enough time to determine that she was done pooping, filled another tub for her. Well I still needed to wash the toys that were in the previous tub and the sink is right by the tub so I put her in and stood next to her washing her toys. In the middle of washing, I hear a distinct grunting noise followed by the sound of bubbles...I slowly look over only to see Kate, sitting this time, but lifting her left up just high enough to poop another huge load in the tub.. apperently she wasn't done! So I yell for Bobby, pick Kate up, hand her to him and put some rubber gloves on and then proceed to scoop everything from the tub into the toilet. I clean the tub again and forgo the whole bath experience and turn on the shower. Kate HATED the shower. She didn't like being sprayed or held while she was bathing, so it was easier to just set her down in the tub and spray her down...yeah..she Loved that! ;)  So it was an exciting hour long bathing experience that I hope was my first and last, although I know deep down that there are more to come.

The Big 25

                                                             

Ok I may not really be getting too old, 25 is not that big of a deal..right? I just don't know how I feel about this number...especially when my husband who I love and want to kick at times jokes that now that i'm getting older he's going to have to trade me in for another 19 year old.. ha ha hilarious sweetie. Oh well! At least the day was great! So it was on a saturday which is an awesome day to have a birthday by the way, and Bobby didn't need to study so he was there to cater to me (sweet!). It started out where Bobby decorated the house in streamers and banners, which has always been something I love on my birthday. The he took Kate out to run errands for a little while so I had the whole morning to myself! I started it with a nice long run and work out which is just what I needed. Then I took a nice long bubble bath..wonderful.. It's funny to me how just those two simple things made my morning, to just be me again for a little while with no other responsibilities but what I wanted to do at that moment. It was quite nice. By the time I was done with all of that I was ready to see my girl (and guy) again. So it was perfect timing that they came home just when I was finished. I put Kate down for a nap and Bobby ended up actually taking a nap too while I just relaxed and played on my computer. I made it a rule not to do a single bit of homework on my birhtday. I wanted to enjoy every minute and not stress for one day. After they both got up, we went to a hockey game of one my my moms exchange students for a minute then off to Babies R Us to get my nephew a birthday gift. After that is when Bobby surprised me with a FUN dinner at Olive Garden, my favorite restaurant with our best friends! It was a blast! We all just had a great time at Olive Garden, plus I got some really cute gifts (thanks again guys!!) Afterwards we went back to our place and had cake and ice cream and just hung out and put in Starsky and Hutch and talked. It was so fun, I actually got sang to and got to blow out a candle just like when I was a kid, I loved it. Then to top it all off, I got an AWESOME gift from Bobby.. an IPOD TOUCH! Holy Cow!!!! I have wanted one of those for soooo long! So yes I am now a proud owner of one, I am now up with the technology a little bit and I Love it! I seriously wonder at times how at the age of 19 when I married Bobby, I knew he would be perfect for me?! It's just great after being together going on 6 1/2 years now (counting the year of dating) it's just easier, we both understand so much better how to make eachother happy. It's great, especially on days like my birthday. ;) So it was a wonderful birthday except for the part where I turned into an old foagie ha ha

Nate and Chelsea

Chelsea and Shane

Rachael, Emmalyn and Jason

Such a great time!

Happy Valentines day!

       
I LOVE this day, not because of the flowers, or even the gifts we give to eachother. I love that this day is a day that celebrates relationships and love. I love that on this day I feel closer to Bobby just because it's today! Cheesy I know, but I think this holiday is a great one. Valentines day was really nice, even though Bobby had to take a test which wasn't fun for him obviously. It really was like any other day in the morning, except that I cleaned the house more, wore a red shirt and put Kate in an adorable heart dress then we went out to dinner to Mc Graths. When Bobby came home and gave me an Awesome gift! BEAUTIFUL roses, Season tickets to the Grizzlies, Real soccer, and the Blaze? (I think, I just know it's football, so that one is mostly for Bobby hehe) AND season tickets to Seven Peaks! I've been wanting to go there for years! So now I can go as much as I want woohoo! Then to top it off the season 1 of Modern Family. He did such a great job!!! My gift to him, keep in mind i'm a cheesy romantic type, was something like the "12 days of Christmas" but really the "12 days of Valentines" so i've been giving him smaller gifts for the past while, a couple of dvds, candy, I made candy roses out of gum drop things just all of the cheesy stuff that goes with Valentines Day. The I would attach a valentine to each gift saying "Because you...." and finish with the reason I love him, because he does so many things for me and Kate. So I finished my cheesy gift it off with his favorite movie that he hadn't bought yet and a cute tee shirt with a "distressed" superman logo on it.I think we did pretty dang good!
   Dinner was fun, but exhausting. Going out to eat is totally different from before we had Kate. Kate is such a busy body that she wants to be touching everything, especially the hundreds of balloons hovering all over her, throwing things, screaming at the tops of her lungs just for fun (which is actually quite funny to listen to but not in a nice restaurant) or trying to eat crayons. So needless to say, after dinner we both were ready for some relaxing down time. We got home I put Kate to bed then we watched "The Social network" which was OK. I think I had too high of expectations for it, so it wasn't as good as I thought it would be. But hey it was still nice just relaxing with my hubby. I've missed him, it seems like we hardly see eachother some weeks, and it feels like I haven't spent more than an hour with him in the last 2 weeks. Hence the reason why it was so nice just to sit with him and watch a movie and then just spend time with him without the craziness of the world to interrupt. Then Saturday is my 25th birthday so a busy week of the year for Bobby ha ha, yeah he loves this time of year ;)

A Doozy of a Week

        Sadly in this post there will be no pictures because there just weren't many picture worthy moments I think. As stated in the title this week really was a doozy and not necessarily the good kind. I defnitely don't want to use this blog as any sort of venting at all, but when thinking about this week I thought maybe I do want to write about it so maybe one day when I read this, i'll laugh instead of sigh.
           Well to begin, this week is test week for Bobby which means I don't see him for more than an hour a day because he is usually studying so much. This week also happened to be a week where I was totally overwhelmed with school myself having loads of studying to do to test out of a politics class on saturday. The amount of studying needed for this class is about 6 hours a day, so fun I know. Then of course we were asked to speak in our church this coming sunday. So on monday everything was fine I was managing my studying and Kate and everything else in my life making this week stressful but managable. Then monday night around midnight, Kate got a fever of 101.5 and a horrible cough that all of the sudden appeared (later discovered as possible RSV that she got playing with her cousin who has it) But everything was still fine, I gave her medicine and off to bed she went. Kate had kind of a rough night but not too bad. Tuesday I noticed kate getting steadily worse and more cranky..to the point that she would cry if I put her down, she would cry if I picked her up, she would cry if I left the room..pretty much everything made her unhappy and the only thing that did make her was nursing so that was basically all I did.
                 Tuesday night was the first of the loooong nights. Kate was up every 45 minutes just crying and obviously miserable. So by 3 am after geting up who knows how many times I just gave up and brought my pillow and a blanket to Kates room with me. This time I just picked her up and laid her on my chest and we just rocked in the chair..she passed right out. So that is where she slept all night, and I being quite uncomfortable because my chair doesn't go back all the way was awake just rocking and holding her and rubbing her back everytime she had a coughing fit. So yes I was up from 2am on.. all day wednesday. But I have to say, I haven't had snuggle time like that with Kate since she was a newborn so part of me didn't mind it, it was kind of nice to feel needed like that. But the price for it was utter exhaustion the next day while my sick baby remained clingy and I still had studying and a talk to write.
                       Wednesday and Thursday night were that same story, me sitting in the rocking chair holding my sick baby girl while she coughed all night. Then during the day it was a fountain of snot, oh the joys of parenthood at times! But really I shouldn't be complaining, i'm not the one up all night with fountains of snot and a cough that leaves me gasping for air (ugh I HATE to hear that sound). Though the sleepless nights I still had to muster up the energy to study for my school during the day and try to think about this talk. Not to mention Kate wouldn't let me do anything without her being right by me making it quite difficult to do anything but hold her wherever I went. I never realized before having a child how exhausting it is to have a sick baby. It's incredible how that becomes almost everything you think about and do during the day. By thursday night it was to the point where I felt like this was the longest day being that I hadn't gone to sleep really at all since Monday night and my test and talk were still looming. I just hate that sometimes, when something you dread is just there, on your mind every minute of the day, this dreadful moment that you know is coming and yet can do nothing about is always right there in the back of your mind.
         All this week I kept thinking, "it's ok, once Bobby takes his test on friday and gets 90%  he can help out a little bit this weekend and I can have time to study and take a break/nap" Well today came, and the lack of sleep got to my poor husband even though I tried to shield him from the long nights, he was still exhausted too and missed his 90% goal by just a few points.. So he has to re-take his test on monday. Which means this week isn't over.. and I still get to figure out how in the world i'm going to juggle even less time with Bobby, who will be shut away from all civilization to study more, and my test, my talk and my still sick but slowly getting better baby girl and all of this with maybe 6 hours of sleep from the past 3 days, it is truly amazing to me how the body can still function without sleep, maybe those years of being an insomniac have paid off and my body's just getting used to it again..who knows! But really, I know this weekend will work out just fine, and Bobby will do great on his test on Monday, but this week was definitely a doozy and I am definitely exhausted and ready for nap. The good thing about this week though like I said, I have to admit I loved just holding my baby all night while she was sick, you see, she is quite the daddys girl and usually wants him all of the time, but this time she just wanted me. Just that fact made everything else OK, and I have to say i'll kind of miss that time just siliently rocking with her, even with the lack of sleep because for once, she was a mommas girl. So tonight while everyone else is sleeping I will be holding my baby girl while she sleeps (and coughs) and i'm really ok with that.

Becuase of the lack of pictures for this post, I thought I would put a video up that has made me smile this week even though i've been stressed. Kates LOVES her Oli. You'll have to pause the music to see why it makes me smile. :)

Circus!!

                                                                                     
          One thing that I feel Bobby and I do so well with in our relationship is surprising eachother with things throughout the years. And this was one of those times where my awesome husband surprised me with a trip to the Circus! I have never been to the circus and I've always wanted to go but it is just so dang expensive! This circus wasn't the "BIG" one but it was just as good in my opinion (even though I don't have much to go on obviously) It was held in South Jordan at the Equestrian center and we met my sis-in-law Jo, & her cute little boy Lennox and my mother-in-law, Jill there. It was really fun with them there too, Kate was so happy to be there, she was so full of love! She just kept kissing us every chance she got and even hugging and giving Lennox big kisses on his cheeks. The circus really had everything there! Shows with elephants, tigers, bears, camels, tight rope acts, swinging people, clowns, jugglers..I could go on! It was just so much fun! The show lasting surprisingly long too, 2 1/2 hours, but I really didn't even notice because it was so busy all of the time. Kate LOVED the elephants, she honestly kept busy the entire time just looking for them and when they would come out she would hop and strain to somehow touch them from up in the bleachers while pointing repeatedly to go to the elephants.

                                                                            

  During the intermission you could go down into the arena where all of the animals are and if you paid money you could ride them. Well as much as I would have loved to do that, they sure charge you a pretty penny for anything extra at the circus! I wanted to get Kate a souvenir so I asked  an emplyee for anything under $10 and he had nothing to give me..wow!! So being on our wonderful student budget Kate just got pictures of the fun event and got to get really close and look at the animals instead of riding them, which frankly was all she needed anyways, so it worked out! Such a great time and it definitely made me want to go to the circus again. Have to say I really scored in the husband department, Bobby just knows how to make my day and I love it!

Visit from Holly

     
   My cousin Holly and her fiance came into town this past weekend from Florida and it was so nice to see her again! Holly and I were very close growing up being that we are the same age (well i'm actually 3 months oder than her hehe) but then she moved to Florida with her dad and stepmom years ago and we just never saw eachother as much obviously. So she came into town this weekend to spend some time with her grandma who wasn't doing too well and I was able to fit in some time with her and her fiance David too.  We didn't do too much just got together for breakfast and then dinner the next day and just caught up and talked about how life is. And as simple as it may sound, it was just so fun catching up and just talking to them. I was so excited that they were able to meet Kate for the first time. Holly and David have been wanting to see her for so long and now they were able to see her in person!

                                                       
Holly and David are going to get married October 8th 2011, and I really want to go, but it's crazy how that may be the exact date that my little brother Matt will be coming home from his mission as well! So we'll have to see for sure about that, but if it's at all possible I would absolutely love to go and see her get married. It was wonderful seeing her, and the original plan was for her and David to fly home on Monday, but sadly her grandma passed away monday morning, so Holly is staying until Saturday after the funeral. It's really sad that her grandma passed away so i've just been letting her spend time with her mom because I know how much that time means to her mom as well. So hopefully I'll see her at least one more time before she leaves on Saturday. But there you have it, just wanted to write a little tidbit about my cuz that i've missed so much and have loved seeing again!